All Houma-Thibodaux senators -- Bret Allain, R-Franklin; Norby Chabert, R-Houma; Ed Price, D-Gonzales; and Gary Smith, D-Norco -- voted for both bills, which head back to the House for review of Senate changes. The proposals earlier won passage there.

Supporters say therapeutic marijuana could help people. Opponents said lawmakers should wait until the medical marijuana program begins before expanding eligibility.

Medical marijuana is expected to be available to patients for the first time this summer.

Anti-sexual harassment policy passed

Louisiana lawmakers have given final passage to the state's first government-wide policy against sexual harassment.

Approval Wednesday came the day after Secretary of State Tom Schedler left office amid allegations he sexually harassed an employee.

The bill, supported by Gov. John Bel Edwards, will require state and local government agencies to enact anti-sexual-harassment policies that include a process for handling complaints, a ban against retaliation when someone files a complaint and mandatory prevention training each year.

The House sent the proposal by Rep. Barbara Carpenter to the governor with a 98-0 vote.

Under current law, a recall petition must be signed by one-third of registered voters within 180 days to hold an election on whether to recall an elected official. In districts with fewer than 1,000 registered voters, the petition requires signatures from 40 percent.

Hollis' bill would lower the signature threshold in larger districts, to 25 percent in districts with 25,000 to fewer than 100,000 voters and to 20 percent in districts with 100,000 or more.

Panel endorses private counselors at schools

A bill that would let children be treated by private counselors during school hours passed without objection at a Senate Health and Welfare Committee meeting Wednesday.

The bill would prevent public schools from prohibiting outside behavioral health experts from treating students if the parents asked to use them instead of just relying on school counselors.

Behavioral health services are provided when an evaluation by a psychologist determines that a child has a psychiatric disorder and the behavior interferes with the child’s ability to learn in a classroom.

“Having a school psychologist as your secondary option when you have had a primary psychologist your child has been seeing all their life, the continuity of care is not there,” former State Senator Nick Gautreaux, D-Abbeville, said.

The bill was written by Rep. Vincent Pierre, D-Lafayette, and the House has passed a similar version. The bill now heads to the Senate floor.

Breast cancer patients whose insurance plans cover mastectomies are guaranteed insured reconstructive surgery under the federal Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998, but many patients are undereducated by physicians, Carter said. Research shows seven in 10 women are not properly educated about reconstruction before undergoing surgery, he said.

Reconstructive surgery is currently covered by private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.

Senate Bill 556 has been approved by the Senate is is headed to a House committee.

Carter was inspired to bring the bill after his niece Chontel Carter Frank, sister of Rep. Gary Carter, D-New Orleans, underwent a prophylactic hysterectomy and prophylactic double mastectomy with reconstruction in 2017. Frank's mother, Constance Carter, died in 2008 after a battle with ovarian cancer.

Frank said she was tested for hereditary cancer risks and was told she had an 85 percent chance of developing breast cancer and a 50 percent chance of developing ovarian cancer before 50. As she explored her preventative surgery options, Frank, a nurse practitioner with a background in pediatric surgery, wasn't happy with the invasive surgery procedures her physicians proposed, she said.

Frank demonstrated on her uncle the four to five incisions doctors proposed making on each of her breasts for committee members. Educating herself on the issue, Frank found a less invasive alternative suitable for low risk cancers and preventative procedures and pitched the concept to her doctors.

The mother of two said lack of a medical background shouldn't prevent patients from knowing what treatments are available to them.

The Associated Press, LSU Manship School News Service

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